Just over a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the green light as Formula One’s latest participant for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has required a frenetic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the journey.
“You might get a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the owner, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while the CTO shared this view he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the track. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with employees now up to more than 400 and scheduled to hit the goal of 600 swiftly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the team are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to produce the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, different from the movement in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the mission in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a leader at a different location, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is no little amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
